The invention relates to a gathering and wire-stitching machine having a gathering section including at least one run of an endlessly circulating, chain-like pulling means to which supporting elements are fastened forming a saddle-shaped support for the printed sheets, which are successively deposited in a straddled position, and with carriers fastened to the pulling means for transporting printed sheets that are successively deposited by feeders in a straddled position, wherein the gathering section leads into an adjoining stitching section designed for stitching the printed sheets which are deposited one on top of the other.
In gathering and wire-stitching machines having a device of the type mentioned at the outset, the printed sheets to be processed pass through a gathering section on a further processing path after leaving the feeders. In the gathering section, the printed sheets are deposited one on top of the other in a straddled position. The printed sheets then pass through a stitching section adjoining the gathering section where the gathered printed sheets, forming complete printed products, are usually stitched twice along the length of the fold.
In the longer gathering section, the deposited printed sheets are placed into the charging position for the next feeder by the carriers provided at least one pulling means. For this purpose, it is known to use a roller chain in which every second chain link is provided with sloping support surfaces on both sides of the roller chain to form an uninterrupted saddle-shaped support, with the upper edge of the support being disposed approximately above the longitudinal center axis of the roller chain.
The gathering section, or that is the conveying chain allocated to the gathering section, ends before the stitching section which follows the gathering process due to the afore-mentioned configuration of the support which prevents a feeding movement of a bending arrangement, which is driven upwardly, in the longitudinal center axis of the roller chain or the upper run of the pulling means in the form of a driven linkage.
The completed printed products are grasped at or after the end of the gathering section for further transport to the stitching section by a conveying arrangement which is suitable for implementing the stitching process, for example, by two driven linkages comprising the pulling means as a continuation of the support of the gathering section, or by so-called finger strips, placing the printed products into the desired stitching position so that they can be stitched and transported further after stitching. The means necessary for this process are very complex.